Since massive guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein and The 'Zig have become pals again and done encores of Misfits material at various Danzig shows, it is really cool that the ball has gotten rolling in the other direction finally. Still. it was unprecedented that Danzig would allow most of the American Psycho Misfits line-up (sans Jerry Only) to share a bill for a one-time performance. Doyle, Graves and Chud seemed ecstatic, and fans even more so. The fact that it was in the band's original state, New Jersey, only made it even more powerful.

Again, I had somehow been so focused on other assignments or the endless holiday mayhem that I had not heard about this event. The day of the show I was deep into a second bottle of wine and trying to mellow out after a wild few days of Christmas cheer with all my crazy relatives. I happened to see a silly Danzig parody article and sent it to my friend, singer Andy Animal of NYC's premier boy band, Stalkers (just kidding, they are actually killer garage/rock’n' roll). Animal and I used to be in a Misfits tribute band together called Wolfsblood (where he sang and I played the part of Jerry Only). It was actually through Wolfsblood that Andy started singing and then moved from Woodstock, New York to The Big Apple and started up Stalkers (who have since started conquering the world). Wolfsblood had originally planned to be a Ramones tribute band after Joey died, but we procrastinated so long that it turned into a Misfits band. Some of the most fun I ever had in my life was playing “Hybrid Moments” and “Angel Fuck” with Andy at keg parties or opening up for The Virus once in Albany, New York. So, imagine my surprise when about an hour or so later Andy Animal hits me up on Facebook and asks if I wanna go to the Danzig show. “Fuck yeah!”

I rather rudely canceled all other plans (though it was for a historic event!) and tried to gather my shit together. Animal showed up awhile after and we shot down the Garden State Parkway into the rainy night, listening to Howard Stern, The Beach Boys and Link Wray and talking shit. Andy informed me that the Danzig skull logo was originally from Crystar: Crystal Warrior, number 8 (Marvel Comics). He also told me that he'd invited Wolfsblood's guitarist Matty (our Doyle) to come to the show and Matty said he “wasn't in the right head space”, so Andy hung up on him. Sorry, Matty, but you are never living that one down.

I had been to Starland Ballroom in Sayreville once for a kick ass Life Of Agony show a few years back, but it had been too long to remember how the fuck to get there. New Jersey is the state I have gotten lost in the most in my life. What the fuck do these people have against left turns? Anyway, Google Maps really sucks, but somehow we finally found the fucking place. We were then faced with the task of getting inside the sold out venue. I didn't know what the plan was but apparently Andy texted Howie Pyro seeing if he could help, who responded, “Not in Danzig anymore. Hail Satan! Have fun.” I had just found out about the show and so hadn't worked any guest list magic, but we used our coolness and somehow got inside.

Unfortunately, we arrived too late to see the awesome opening doom magic of Seventh Void, the new band featuring Kenny and Johnny from Type O Negative. Their debut Heaven Is Gone was one of the best true hard rock records of 2009 and should be checked out at all costs by fans of Sabbath-y doom or any of their other bands. I have somehow managed to miss seeing them play live twice now, as I never made it to their show at Trash Bar with the Resurrection Sorrow in November, but I did get to introduce myself to bassist Hank Hell, who was cool enough to be mingling with the crowd at this Danzig show for most of the night. We also saw Jesse Malin (formerly) of DGeneration (and his solo) fame and some other regular New York City faces out in force. It was a great crowd and everyone on the floor really respected each other, for the most part.

Gorgeous Frankenstein kicked out the heavy horror jams with ex-Misfits axeman Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein dominating the stage. I wonder if he ever wears shirts even at home? The band had awesome Von Frankenstein series guitar and bass in tow, and I particularly liked bassist Argyle Goolsby's freaky looking Devil Wing bass, which thundered most properly. Doyle's wife Gorgeous George (of pro wrestling fame) danced around on stage and riled up the crowd, who responded favorably to the sort of lumbering and yet also heavily Misfits indebted gloom of the band's metalized set of which the marching attack of “MotherNight” was definitely the standout. I don't think it was Landon Blood singing, because I thought he was out of the band, but he was definitely the weak link (albeit admittedly it must have been hard to perform on a night filled with such legendary front men). Whoever this new dude was, he didn't have enough stage presence and movement, though he had a good voice. It wasn't bad, just...not good enough, especially since Gorgeous Frankenstein have some cool ass jams, but the potential with this guy is there. Now for their encore, on the other hand.

Michale Graves, love him or loathe him, is really one hell of a front man. He also has an epic voice which kindled the darkness in the heart of many a more new school Misfits fan during his tenure with this most classic of bands. Personally, I could never get into it out of sheer revulsion that there WAS a post-Danzig version of the band. The Misfits are just one of those bands that are too classic in their original incarnation for me to have been that open-minded. Still, you know that Graves bled for the Misfits and you can't say that he didn't earn his stripes even if for some people it will never be The Misfits in their minds. I can't say how many times I have heard all the Glenn Danzig material in my life, and I have probably never listened all the way through the Graves' albums with The Misfits. It wasn't even that the music was by any means terrible, but it just didn't resonate for me with the letdown of not having Glenn on the microphone. Since Danzig kept going with the amazing Samhain and then the Danzig band, it seemed pointless that there was still a Misfits. Once I found out Graves' is very conservative, I was even less inclined to ever give a shit. I often speak out against right wing shit, because I think it is really misguided and fucking whack (especially in punk rock). Granted, politics of a band are not blinders for enjoyment of good music (I love Alice Cooper, a notable Republican rocker, for example). I can't truly hang with music with an ideology that is truly repugnant, like the racism of Johnny Rebel, but other than that you have to try and look at art as sociology. Still, I guess how vocal Graves was about liking George Bush just clinched it for me, since I already was very predisposed to not fucking care about him when I already had “Astro Zombies” or “She” (although I definitely liked “Speak Of The Devil” and “Descending Angel” when I first heard them)!

Whatever side of that divide you stand on as a Misfits fan, the post-Glenn Misfits that Jerry Only stubbornly forged ahead with really still mattered to some people (though ironically now that Jerry Only has driven the band further and further off a precipice of irrelevance even his ex-band mates from the American Psycho-era don't seem to have wanted him to be a part of this reunion; not that Glenn would have probably even allowed him or Robo in the building at this point). Andy Animal joked to me that maybe Jerry would show up and try to pull an Inglorious Basterds and lock everyone in the theatre and then burn it down.

Dez Cadena, Jerry and Robo have all contributed greatly to the history of punk rock, but it is time to hang up that particular moniker and stop defacing the name any more with a fraction of the power of post-lineups. The fact that Jerry allegedly derailed a full on original Misfits line-up reunion that fans would have died for in 2002 has only driven the nail into the coffin further. It certainly made this show a historical sort of “in your face” rebuttal to Only from practically everyone else who are a part of the Misfits' legacy of brutality.

As Gorgeous Frankenstein ended their set of originals the crowd maniacally chanted “Michale Graves!” over and over as Doyle grinned. Suddenly we saw the skinny Graves' kind of punk-crabwalk out onto the stage to the massive chords of “Helena” from Famous Monsters before total bedlam ensued. In just a black sleeveless shirt and a skull cap, he owned the stage. Even a Graves' cynic like me couldn't fail but be super-stoked to be here and I found myself really enjoying singing along. “Helena” was a great choice to open this rabidly anticipated encore as the refrain of "Why don't you love me anyway?" could just as well have applied to old school fans acceptance of Graves. Free of the context that had ruined it for me, I could finally really appreciate the Graves-fronted music more last night. Argyle Goolsby did fine filling Jerry Only's shoes and had a good command of his corner of the stage. “Lost In Space” chugged along like a train from hell and “Shining” was pure melodic, anthemic fury live. It was fairly downright rather awesome! People were truly losing their fuckin' minds, though nowhere near as much as they would later in the night when Doyle encored with the man himself (you know who I'm talking about). Some people are saying Glenn probably only allowed this reunion as a way to sell more tickets, but I say kudos to Danzig for being cool enough to let the fans have such a cool night that eschewed drama.

Danzig finally took the stage after a lengthy, buzz-building set up period and blasted out jams from most of his albums. Andy says he played songs in album order, which I think is correct, though I was rocking out really hard. I was glad I got to see Johnny Kelly playing with Danzig, since I'd missed Seventh Void, though the real highlight for me was watching Tommy Victor on guitar, who is always nothing less than amazing. Victor's searing solos practically stole the show on number after number. As a Prong fan, it was so cool when Danzig took Victor on board and helped me get over the change from the classic Danzig line-up (which included the brilliant John Christ, of course). All that said, it would be blasphemy not to mention the masterful ease with which Danzig ran the show.